Serendipity 8/?

[Coley Merrin]

A little quicker this time.. ^_~

***

Heero was not expecting a knock on his door on Christmas afternoon. It took him a few seconds to guess that it was Duo, insatiably curious about how Christmas went with Heero?s two "women" and come to call. It was his turn to blink, however, as he was not met with a pair of laughing blue violet eyes, but instead a pair of cool blue ones.

"Zechs," Heero said moderately, he figured.

"Heero," the owner of the eyes replied.

The two probably would have stood there longer had it not been for the woman behind Zechs pushing him forward. She was cold, damn it.

"Hi, Heero. We?re sorry to interrupt you." Noin smiled at them both. "Look at you two, all grown up and in the same air space... even calling each other by the first name! How proud I am."

She would have pinched Zechs? cheek if he hadn?t had a warning look in his eye. It wasn?t best to push them anyway.

"We are on our way out right now, and were going to stop at my sister?s house to say hi before we left but we learned she wasn?t there... hadn?t been there for several days."

If there ever were a blatant question and threat posed by expression and words, that would have to be it. Heero and Zechs eyed each other for a moment before Lauren, with perfect timing, appeared at Heero?s elbow to interrupt their visual interrogation.

Zechs and Noin had not heard the news, he surmised, seeing the surprise on their faces. Well, he smirked, how fun.

"This is my daughter, Lauren. Lauren, this is Zechs and Noin."

The girl regarded them cautiously. "Are you in a relationship? With kissing?"

Heero gaped at her. "Why are you so obsessed with that? You shouldn?t ask people you don?t know that. It?s rude."

The couple near them didn?t consider it rude. Noin was fighting back tears of concealed laughter and Zechs was still processing the word "daughter" and its implications.

"She?s..."

Lauren was predictably on the ball.

"I?m not his blood daughter, but I grabbed him and wouldn?t let go. Right, Daddy?"

Heero, looking slightly bemused, accepted the hug that the jumping girl was determined to give him.

"Does Relena know she has company?"

"No."

"Because?"

"We were putting stuff together. She didn?t..."

"Tell me later." With Lauren still hanging around his neck he turned and called her name, leaving him and the other two adults in the room positively stunned at how domestic just one sound was.

They heard quiet muttering before she made clear she was making her way out. Heero swept past the two to lead them to the living room of sorts, picking up pieces of wrapping paper as he went, mumbling something under his breath about not being clean.

The picture Relena saw when she entered was beyond her imagination. Noin looked terribly amused, Zechs was shellshocked, Heero held a great fistful of pom-pom like wrapping paper, and Lauren was hanging on to the waistband of his pants not really understanding, for once, the emotions drifting around between the people of the room.

"Zechs, Noin!" her face lit with pleasure. Hugging Noin first, since she was closer, and then moving to her brother who hugged her close in a way that spoke of his affection and loyalty to her. There were no words that she had to express how grateful she was for it.

"Have a seat," Heero offered, his miniature shadow trailing after him to pull herself onto his lap as he sat down.

Relena sat as well, before some ingrained thought had her straightening and standing.

"Can I get you something to drink?"

There was quiet consideration happening as her brain fully processed where she was and that they were not technically her guests. She had become entirely too comfortable in this home for her own good. Heero merely shrugged dismissively as she looked at him rather sheepishly.

"That sounds wonderful," Noin said, "I?ll go with you."

Relena was steered to the kitchen by her curiosity ridden sister in law.

"So?" Noin whispered, ever polite even if it was a demand.

Relena shook her head, moving easily through the kitchen. "I don?t know where to begin."

"You could start with why you look so goofy happy."

"He kissed me," Relena confessed as she set out mugs. "Several times."

"Is this what...?"

"I really don?t know if this is what I was waiting for, or if it?s what he was looking for. I?m trying to keep myself objective, but it?s harder than I thought."

"Oh, how well I know it. Just enjoy your time here, and don?t worry about your brother. He?s not going to throw a fit, and to throw out a trite phrase, he just wants you happy."

"Same goes for me to him."

"Say that again when you?re called upon to babysit his terrors of the seven seas."

Relena giggled, not pointing out those terrors would be half Noin?s.

***

If Zechs noticed the fact that Heero actively kept Lauren from following the two women he made no note of it.

"So..." Zechs began in a leading manner.

"So," Heero replied, curtly.

Lauren peered between the two. "Soooo...?"

"I see you've got a good little chaperone there," Zechs said, again rather leadingly, daring Heero to refute his statement.

"They only kiss in the kitchen," Lauren replied, beaming about their kitchen routine. Heero, at her words, sunk a subtle inch lower into the couch.

Zechs considered that, his eyebrow raising slightly in question of the literalness of the girl?s statement. The tension was broken somewhat as Relena and Noin reappeared with the drinks. Relena made sure to hand Lauren?s hers first. It was just right, she assured Lauren, to make certain Heero wouldn?t worry. Suitably back in control Zechs turned his attention to his little sister: for the truth.

"Kissing in the kitchen?"

Relena?s eyes fixed on Heero who was looking at nothing in particular but sitting as if he?d break if he moved.

She explained briefly about Heero and Lauren's tradition, making it seem completely innocent, and Zechs was slightly mollified. She could not keep back the near silent chuckle into her drink when she was finished.

Lauren?s mouth opened to comment further, but Heero, seeing the look on her face, gently hoisted her off the couch and sent her towards her room, hinting strongly that she had toys to attend.

Once Lauren was occupied enough to allow Zechs and Noin to leave without further incident the rest of the day was quite unusual. The snow had fallen all day, until at last Lauren could hold them back no longer. Relena had indeed caught Heero to put snow down his neck, but he had retaliated in kind which ended up in a full blown snowball war. It seemed as if time would not stand still for them, and the day was already at bedtime for Lauren.

"Will you put the dress back on?" he asked softly, catching her before she followed Lauren down the hall.

Her eyes widened, but she nodded, moving away from him and making contorted faces as she mouthed incredulous statements to herself. After Lauren had been tucked into her sleeping bag, Heero came to tell Lauren goodnight, never noticing what Relena had put on to keep her arms warm until he saw her in the living room. He couldn?t help but let a grin cross his face.

"Cotton and velvet, that is certainly quite the combination."

She shook her head.

"Just making sure I was warm enough. What exactly are you wanting?"

He paused at his place by the radio, sending her inquisitive look before turning up the Christmas music that had been playing in the background all day. He was almost hesitant as he approached her, standing and waiting as she pulled the sweatshirt over her head, careful of her hastily pinned hair. The emerald choker had been replaced by the locket. It had not been as expensive, but as his thumb edged the curving lines he was sure nothing had been more fitting. She stood there looking so complacent as he touched her. It was such a gentle look that he had a hard time remembering why he was standing with her.

He pursed his lips, extending his hand to her. She laid her hand in his, but looked at him quizzically.

"I thought last night that the dress was suited to dancing. Will you dance with me?"

"Of course," she said softly. She stepped up to him, her opposite hand finding his shoulder with practiced ease. It was easy, the steps required no thought at all, leaving her free to look at him, to wonder of him.

The music turned from the lazily beautiful music into the higher tempo "Jingle Bell Rock." She wasn?t sure just what she was to do for a bit, noting that Heero had stopped as well, but suddenly he started backing up, pulling her along. Instinctively following his cue for a spin she walked under his arm, finding he had switched hands on her and came to her back, instead of facing her. She was mystified as slid one arm around her, letting the other rest on her hip, until he began to sway sharply back and forth in time with the music. With every beat they moved, a few steps forward, one step back, then walking them entirely backwards, Heero guiding her movements even as she tried desperately not to laugh. It was possibly the most bizarre dance she?d ever participated in, and dancing with Heero, having him... groove for lack of a better word, to the song was pulling her to the limits. Suddenly the warmth of Heero?s chest was gone and she found herself falling, but not freely, as Heero had suddenly spun her around and sent her into the deepest dip she?d ever been put into. She was lifted back up absolutely beyond the ability to keep herself from laughing. She tried to muffle her laugher her in his neck but gave up, letting the anchor of her arms allow her to lean back for her eyes to laugh up at him. He looked amused as well, but the look fled and she gasped leaning back into his hand as it slid up her neck, fingers sinking deep into her hair, baring her throat to him as the song ended. The music was now barely registering, her senses picking up one thing and one thing only: the warm breath on the side of her neck.

They were barely moving now, swaying gently, locked together. His hand in her hair had pulled out the hastily placed pins, causing her hair to fall, wild and curled where the pins still clung. His right hand slid from the skin bared by the upper portion of her dress, down the slope of her back, flirting briefly with the curving flesh below. She was so soft, the skin his lips caressed above, covered so elegantly in the soft velvet. Her mouth was open already as he let his face come to rest in front of hers, her lips damp. The previously laughing eyes were huge now, and so infinitely luminous, full of questions and desires. If his shirt was unbuttoned it was likely that their skin would meet, her chest heaving as she tried to breathe. His lips found hers, pleased to feel her pressing back. Her body jerked violently in his arms, as if she had been shocked, as his tongue slipped effortless between her lips, and met her own. ?Was this inevitable?? He thought. If she had been put within his reach a year, even two, before, would he have moved this far towards her? Was it also inevitable, that now she was here, that they would come together like this? If she stayed longer would it go further? If he pressed it, would she let him?

Relena sensed that he had lost his focus and let him end the kiss. He stared at her, as if he was trying to read her thoughts. She could have laughed at that. What thoughts? Honestly she couldn?t tell what she was thinking. It was all still so far beyond her comprehension that her sense of understanding might as well have been in another galaxy. She was so lost, and he was so strong, such an anchor, that it was very hard not to lose herself entirely. As she thought, his body had tensed, not a muscle relaxed. Even his hold on her was stiff, whereas only seconds before it had been a warm embrace. His eyes hurt her as he looked down, they were nearly icy.

"We should get some sleep," he said quietly.

She nodded mystified, her eyes closing as he kissed her hard, a brief fleeting kiss, and then turned and walked off. The distance that he put between them was so very tangible, like a mountain range dividing countries, and just as cold. She hugged herself, feeling the beginnings of dread clutching at her stomach, causing the sick feeling to travel up towards her throat. Was that his response? Was he saying it was over, just like that? Or could she be reading too much into the actions of a man in a situation that was unfamiliar to them both?

The darkness of the room, and her pillow gave Relena little comfort. She was strong, she told herself, she had to be strong. She was still the same person who had stood her ground under the rumble of the Wing Gundam?s heavy steps, the same person who had faced world leaders who sought her destruction, the same person who had danced with perhaps the most deadly assassin of his time. And yet again she was not the same person. The girl who had stared into the eyes of the boy who intrigued her those years ago had grown up. So had the boy, and so her intrigue and curiosity had bloomed until the love that she felt for just one person was almost painful in its fullness. She had, only this very morning, compared this time with Heero, to that of Cinderella?s time at the ball. If the clock had struck would she flee, as Cinderella had, or would she stay to face this end? If Heero had declared an end for them he would not take any glass slipper to find the remnants of her love. Even without confirmation her heart was beginning to shred his memory. She had felt his body against hers, felt his lips touch hers, experienced more in a matter of hours than she had dreamed ever to hope for in a lifetime. What had his purpose been? Why? She could not cease to ask herself why. And honestly, should she truly be grateful to him for giving her a taste of what they could have and then ripping it away? Was that what he wanted? Did he know? She gripped the sheets in one hand, willing her heart to stay strong, knowing she would not fall apart. Sleep was slow in coming to her, but the hot tears that symbolized her suffering, however, were not.

*

Heero let the door of his room close softly behind him, feeling the frost that had covered his opening heart thicken. What could he have possibly been thinking? What possible future was there in a relationship between he and Relena? Lauren absolutely thought the world of Relena, and he knew this, but he had not stopped to consider her ultimate goals in planning this visit. If she began to think more seriously of Relena as her mother, when Relena was gone for good, and not indulging a child?s wishes, it would be too hard on his little girl. It was why he had pulled from Relena. He had seen the door of the hallway shutting, and he knew beyond a shadow of a doubt Lauren had seen them kissing. It could be the final weight to throw on Lauren?s list of reasons why she should have them both, and if she had begun to formulate ideas he would stop them, and quickly. If Lauren were to be given reason to cry, a real, truly sorrowful cry, he could never forgive himself. And what scared him most was that he might not be able to forgive Relena either.

***



Jen: heh heh heh
Everyone: *blinks*
Jen: heh heh heh
Miaka: *slaps Jen out of it*
Everyone: What?!
Jen: heh *looks at miaka* What? You all thought it was going to be fluffy forever, right down to the deep as quick sand sappy ending? You've been fooled my friends! Fooled! *evil laughter* ^_^;;

[blackrose]

Okay, well I *did* expect some angst at some point - even before you told me there would be.

But *whines* WHY did he have to be so cold? *sobs* MEAN MEAN HEERO!

WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIII!!! Jen's sooo mean! She broke them up! ALREADY! WITHOUT EVEN A LEMON to soothe my sorrowed soul!

*CRIES*

YOU HAVE TO FIX IT!

*sucks thumb and sobs quietly in the corner*

Love,
Rose

[RyanEX2000]

Guess who's back..eheheh
Rosie's back...eheheh

But geez she's got lemons on the brain.Here(hands rose a lemon)Eat up

But I really enjoy this fic.It takes a child to get through Heero's defenses.It just seems so fitting.